The boozy party a third-grade teacher and her Stanford University research engineer husband allegedly hosted for their daughter at their Palo Alto home over the weekend has become a fine lesson in how to get in trouble with the law.

Lisa Swagerty, 50, and Richard Stovel, 62, of Palo Alto, were given misdemeanor citations Saturday for contributing to the delinquency of some 40 minors after neighbors complained about drunken teens staggering around the Fielding Drive home, vomiting and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

"There were numerous teenagers in varying degrees of intoxication, some that were very intoxicated, vomiting or sitting down with their heads in their laps, not doing very well," said Palo Alto police Officer Max Nielepko. "What surprised us was that both parents were actually home and theoretically supervising the party. It sounds like they were well aware of what was occurring, and at least to some degree they were condoning or allowing this."

The couple could not be reached for comment, but Nielepko said one of the revelers at their house that night was their daughter, a Palo Alto High School student.

Nielepko said the daughter was joined by 35 to 40 other teens, mostly from Palo Alto High, who were openly drinking beer, vodka and tequila.

The bacchanalia was such that neighbors called police, who arrived to find loud, drunken teenagers carousing in the street. Officers gathered all the partiers together and made them call their parents, most of whom were "upset," Nielepko said.

"One of the things that really concerned the officers was that the majority of them had driven there in their vehicles and a lot of them were intoxicated," Nielepko said. "There were no plans to have them spend the night that we were aware of."

Nielepko said he could maybe understand a parent serving watered-down wine or a beer to his own son or daughter, but there is no excuse for allowing a crowd of teenagers to get inebriated.

"A number of us found it relatively surprising that adults would allow minors to get intoxicated in their home to the point that some of them were throwing up," he said. "Parents should know who their kids are hanging out with, and who their friends' parents are."